Nocturnals

However, in contrary to the common belief that all nocturnal animals see well in the dark, many of them have a poor eyesight. No doubt, some of the animals like owls and lemurs do have special eyes. But, there are several others that rely on smell, touch, sound, and other senses to survive in the darkness. Owls with their peculiar night vision can hunt very small predators even in complete darkness. Bats hunt their prey with the help of echo sounding or echolocation. They generate sound waves, which after hitting an object, return in the form of echoes. From these echoes, bats have the ability to determine the size, shape and distance of the prey. Mink, a nocturnal mammal, uses its highly sensitive nose for communicating between each other, and also, to hunt its prey in the dark. In the desert, nocturnality enables the inhabiting animals to conserve water in the body by avoiding the hot daytime heat. Rabbits have a well-developed hearing and it helps them locate low-pitched sounds in total darkness. Cats and dogs can see well in both daytime and night darkness. Very few diurnal animals like seabirds prefer visiting their nesting sites at night in order to protect themselves from predators. While hunting for food in the dark, nocturnal animals camouflage well, thus increasing their chances to catch hold of their prey.